Magdalena Swider

2022 IVLP Impact Award Project: Support to Ukrainian and Belarusian Feminists - Feminist Summer Action CampPoland

Magdalena Swider is a social psychologist, anti-discrimination educator, and a human rights activist. She is an expert in hate crime prevention and supporting hate crime victims. For 10 years Magdalena has worked on securing the rights of LGBTI persons in Poland as a hate crime officer and member of the advocacy the team. She currently runs the Anti-discrimination Education Society in Poland that works with teachers to introduce equality education to Polish schools. Magdalena has also worked as inclusion and diversity manager in a corporation. She is a feminist works to secure reproductive rights in Poland. She organizes feminist initiatives in Ulica Siostrzana informal collective. 

IVLP Impact Award Project: Support to Ukrainian and Belarusian Feminists - Feminist Summer Action Camp
Feminist Summer Action was an initiative organized by an informal collective Ulica Siostrzana (Sisterhood Street). The camp is in its 20th year of activities. At the camp, participants learn from one another in a peer-to-peer manner. It all happens in a safe space respecting the following basic values: equity and equality, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, sisterhood, community-building, cooperation, ecology, and veganism. Each participant organizes a lecture or a workshop, so the agenda is always full of very interesting topics, pertaining to the specificity of the participant's area of expertise: human rights, climate change, feminism, self-care, etc.
This IVLP Impact Award provided the opportunity for 12 Ukrainian and Belarusian feminists to participate in the camp along with Polish activists to create strong bonds, despite the difficult political situation between the three countries. The project aimed to cover the costs of participation of Ukrainian and Belarusian activists and their children, who otherwise would not be able to come. Additionally, the camp allowed participants to better understand their identities as feminists and queer people from countries in conflict to empower them to become social activists in Poland and neighboring countries.
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"The work of the translators and the sense of solidarity of the participants blurred language barriers." - Project Participant

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Magdalena was a participant in the IVLP Project A Global Moment in Time: Reflections on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility organized by the U.S. Department of State and Meridian International Center.

Magdalena's exchange experience led to the development of her IVLP Impact Award Project: "IVLP has been a great experience that allowed me to bond with activists from around the globe, learn from them, and reflect on my own activism. "

U.S. Communities Visited Virtually

Phoenix, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; Colorado Springs, CO; Washington, DC; Orlando, FL; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Detroit, MI; Kalamazoo, MI; Minneapolis, MN; Cleveland, OH; Portland, OR

Country: Poland

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